SATTAPANNA GUHA

Location

A group of natural caves on Vaibhara giri, a hill about 2 km south-west of New Rajgir and some 2 km north-east of Old Rajagriha. The caves are associated with a great event in Buddhist history, the first council convened in 543 BC by Kasyapa soon after the demise of Buddha. The exact position of Sattapanna cave is a subject of much speculation and controversy (note 1) which was retrospected –with few omissions– by STEIN (1901: 57-59). The different positions can be condensed to three distinct localities 1) Vaibhara foot –>Sattapanna (BEGLAR 1873), 2) Vaibhara crest –>Sattapanna (STEIN 1901), and 3) Vaibhara south –>Sonbhandar (KURAISHI & GHOSH 1958 edited 1975).SITUATION: The old Buddhist records in Pali agree that the first council convened by Kasyapa soon after the demise of Buddha, took place near Rajagriha [note 2] in Sattapanna cave in the hill Vebhara [note 3] (now: Vaibhagiri). The MAHAVASTU [note 4] gives the Sanskrit name Saptaparna Guha and furnishes the additional detail that the cave was situated on the northern side of Vaibhara. SITUATION 1: FAHIAN (circa 415 for 399-414 [also: Fa Hian, Fa Hien], edited by REMUSAT 1836, LAIDLAY 1848 edited 2000: 301, LEGGE 1886) positions the place where 500 Arhats assembled after the nirvana (note 5) of Buddha at the –>Chhe ti stone house / Cheti stone cave (note 6), which lies 5 or 6 li east of –>Pippala Cave. SITUATION 2: XUANZANG (638 edited by BEAL 1884-1885, 2: 155 sqq; edited by WALTERS 1906, 2: 160) places the »large stone house« of the great convocation in the middle of a bamboo forest on the »north side of the South Mountain … (Dakshina giri or Dakkhina giri).« SITUATION 3: BALLANTYNE (1848: 500-501) identifies the natural Sattapanna cave with the man-made rock temple »Sone Bundar« (–>Sonbhandar) which is marked on the map of KITTOE (1847), and which lies –contrary to the uniform testimony of the Mahavastu and the Chinese pilgrims– on the southern, opposite, and wrong flank of Baibhar / Vaibhara hill. SITUATION 4: CUNNINGHAM (1861-1862: 24; 1871: 463; 1990: 390-391; 1878: 140sqq) follows Mr. Ballantyne. SITUATION 5: BEAL (1884-1885 edited 1981, 2: 156, note 53) considers Cunningham's identification »impossible« and refers to BURGESS & FERGUSSON (1880 edited 1988: 49, 50 and note). SITUATION 6: BEGLAR (1873: 90ss) retraced step by step the indications of FAXIAN and reported to have hit a group of rift caves (–>Sattapanna Guha: Beglar 1873) at a suitable location less than a mile west of –>Pippala Cave and »in the middle third of the hill«. Strange enough, neither Grierson (ca. 1900, personal correspondence in: STEIN 1901: 59), nor LEVI (1899: 73) or STEIN (1901: 59) were able to find the caves of Beglar. SITUATION 7: STEIN (1901: 59-60) identifies Sattapanna with two natural caves he found below Adinath temple on the northern crest of the hill –>Sattapanna (Stein 1901). SITUATION 8: WATTERS (1905 edited 1988, 2: 160) notes: »… the "Sarvata Vinaya" and certain other treatises describe the Council as meeting at the Pippala Cave on the Gridhrakuta (Sarvata Vinaya Tsa-shih, chapter 39; Fu-fa-tsang-yin-yuan-chuan, chapter 1, no. 1340) and this is probably the Nyagrodha cave of Rockhill's Tibetan authority (Rockhill, 'Life', chapter 5); and other places are given in other works.« NARAYAN, Sachindra (1983: 103) avoids getting entangled by claiming »Saptparin cave [is] on Vaibhar hill.« SITUATION 9: KURAISHI (1939 etc.) and later KURAISHI & GOSH (1958 etc., location map on plate 9) mark »Saptaparni Cave« on the position given by Stein (1901), on the northern crest of Vaibhara Hill. SITUATION 10: BUDDHIST SHRINES…(1956: 46) erroneously ascribes the –>Sattapanna BEGLAR 1873 to STEIN (1901: 57-58): »… the identification of the Sattapanni Cave … is not beyond doubt. … Stein may probably be right when he identifies the site with the large terrace with a group of cells at the back in a semi-circular bend of the rock on the northern scarp.« SITUATION 11: STRASSER (1991: map) marks "d" for Sattapanni at the foot of the northern flank of Vaibhargiri. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 05/05/2016

NOTE 1: BURGESS & FERGUSSON (1880 edited 1988: 49, 50 and note) need to be checked. Secondary literary sources: BALFOUR (1885 edited 1967, 1: 611); BECKH (1925: 80-81); BUDDHIST SHRINES… (1956: 46); DEY (1927 edited 1990, 1994: 253); LAW (1937, 1976: 17, 195); SINHA (1995b: 8-9); GOSH (1989, 2: 363). NOTE 2: Now Rajgir, formerly Rajagrha, Girivraja or Magadhpura, capital of the ancient Magadha kingdom. NOTE 3: Vebhara, Vaibhara, Baibhara - giri / parvatam / parbatam is also called Dakkhina, Dakshina, Siebenblattberg, South mountain. NOTE 4: MAHAVASTU (200 BC - 400 AD, edited by Sénart, E. 1882-1907, vol. 1, ch. 3, p. 70): »Puravare bhavatu Rajagrhemin Saptaparna abhidhanaguhayam.« Partly translated by FURAOUR (Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal 1837, 6, page 510: Mahawanso). NOTE 5: Niravana, literally means 'blown out' (like a candle); technical term in the philosophy of the Buddhists for the condition to which they aspire as the crown and goal of virtue, viz. the cessation of sentient existence (YULE 1886 edited 1903: 627). CHILDERS (1875: 265-266 –out of ten double-column pages): »Nibbanam. Extinction; destruction; annihilation; annihilation of being, Nirvana; annihilation of human passion; Arhatship or final sanctification … In Trübner's Record for July, 1870, I first proposed a theory which meets all the difficulties of the questions, namely, that the word Nirvana is used to designate two different things, the state of blissful sanctification called Arhatship, and the annihilation of existence in which Arhatship ends.« NOTE 6: Also –>Chhe ti (LAIDLAY 1848 edited 2000: 301), Che-ti, Ch'ê-ti, Cha-ti. The stone house / stone cell / stone cave is known from other instances (e.g. –>Gidhadvari = Indrasaila Guha) to designate a natural cave, not a man-made rock chamber or rock temple. Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 05/05/2016